Lemon-hued sunshine slanted through slits in the blinds. Ronald opened his eyes a crack. Startled, he realized that nothing looked familiar.
Where the hell am I?! he wondered.
That's when it hit him that not only was he completely naked, but his cock was covered in dried cum.
Who did I…?
"Mmm," murmured his bedmate sleepily.
A blond head poked up from the top of the covers and slowly turned to look at him.
Collin?!
"Good morning," the younger reaper yawned.
"No! We…we didn't!" Ronald stammered.
"Might I say that you were absolutely amazing last night? And you said you'd never done anything homosexual before! You're a natural!"
Collin sat up, leaned over, and kissed the startled Ronald. Alarmed, he shoved the frisky fellow shinigami away.
"What was that for?" pouted Collin.
"You did that on purpose!" Ronald shouted. "You got me drunk, then…"
"Need I remind you that I merely poured you a glass? You chose to drink it. Not to mention that you kissed me first.
Collin did have a point.
"But I never intended to…" Ronald began.
"To fuck me?" Collin finished. "Some part of you must have or you wouldn't have done it. You're just scared."
"Scared? Of what?"
"Scared that you might not be who or what you thought you were. Scared that you might be bi. It's nothing to be afraid of," Collin reassured him. "Okay, I admit that as soon as I saw you I wanted you. Grell-sempai said that there was no way you'd sleep with me. He was wrong, though."
Collin looked up at him so earnestly, so sincerely, that it almost hurt Ronald's heart.
"This didn't happen," Ronald said.
"It did, Ronnie. Don't lie to yourself."
"Don't call me that!"
"So Grell-sempai, with whom you've never been intimate, can call you by a cute nickname while I, with whom you have, can't? I hardly think it's fair."
"I don't like you!"
"Your mouth says 'no,' but your body says 'yes,'" Collin smirked, looking pointedly at the large tent in the sheets where Ronald was. "I could take care of that for you."
"No!"
"Well then, you know where your things are. Take a shower before you leave or don't. Anyway, this conversation is finished. Kindly see yourself out."
With that, Collin rolled onto his side facing away from Ronald.
Ronald's jaw dropped. The little bastard had summarily dismissed him, as if he were royalty and Ronald a servant! Furious, he stormed into the living room and got dressed.
At work that morning, Grell was startled to see Ronald looking as if he was ready to kill someone.
"Why, Ronnie, whatever is the matter?" he asked
"Nothing!" Ronald snarled.
"That's the angriest I've seen you over 'nothing,'" Grell observed. "Don't tell me; you've finally fallen for one particular girl and she refused to become your mate."
"No!" shouted Ronald.
"Well, don't rip my head off over it!" Grell huffed.
"What's up with him?" Alan asked as Ronald stomped past.
"No idea," Grell sighed, shaking his head. "If he won't even tell me, it has to be bad."
Grell knew something was up when Collin arrived a few minutes later, obviously seething. Two angry shinigami coupled with Collin's declaration the other day; it didn't take a genius to realize that something had happened between the blonds.
"Collin?" Grell ventured.
The younger reaper breezed right past him without a word, headed straight for Ronald. To everyone's astonishment, Collin shoved Ronald roughly up against a pillar and gave him a bruising kiss on the lips! Reapers standing near the pair swore that Collin hissed something that sounded like "Bastard!" before striding away with an expression of contempt on his face. Grell knew he had to stop his mentee before he did something stupid or irreparably damaging. A few seconds later, the redhead heard barely-restrained sobbing coming from the men's washroom. Ronald heard too, his ire rising.
How dare he play the victim?! he thought angrily. And he even has the audacity to try to drag everyone else into it!
Grell walked up to the door and knocked gently.
"Yes?" came the quavery response.
"It's just me, Grell," he assured Collin. "May I come in?"
"Okay," Collin replied, barely above a whisper.
Grell entered to find the younger shinigami blotting at his eyes with a balled-up bit of toilet paper.
"There now, let's not get those pretty gray eyes of yours all red!" the older reaper said in an attempt to be soothing.
Collin forced a faint smile and Grell gently hugged him and patted his back.
"What's going on, you poor thing?" asked Grell.
"We..we…spent the night together, and this morning he flipped out on me and basically said it was a mistake and he regretted it!" the blond managed before dissolving into tears again.
"Shh," Grell hushed, rocking Collin slowly.
"It seemed like he enjoyed himself, so what happened?"
"He could be frightened," Grell suggested. "You've probably made him question his orientation and he's not sure what to make of his feelings."
"He…he has feelings for me?" Collin asked hopefully.
"Now, now, I wouldn't jump to conclusions," Grell chuckled. "It's a possibility, though. The Ronnie I know doesn't just jump into bed casually. He may play the field a bit when it comes to dating, but being intimate? He has to care at least somewhat for that."
"Oh, thank you so much, Grell-sempai!" gushed Collin, surprising even himself by giving his senior a peck on the cheek in his excitement.
"Easy, Collin! I should hope that you don't go about kissing everyone!"
"Oh no, sempai!" Collin assured him. "I'm…more discreet than that."
So now he's kissing Grell?! Ronald fumed mentally. The little slut!
He didn't even stop to wonder why Grell might have been allowing himself to be kissed; he was too furious. The pen he was writing with tore through the paperwork he was filling out. He cursed and threw the pen at the ground angrily. Just at that moment, Collin came out of the bathroom, followed by Grell.
"Hey!" Collin exclaimed, rubbing at his cheek where the pen had rebounded off the floor and struck it. "Really, Ronald? You've resorted to throwing pens at me? How childish; are we in elementary school?"
He rolled his eyes and shook his head as if in disbelief at Ronald's supposed pettiness.
"I did not throw a pen at you, you infuriating boy! It bounced!" Ronald shouted.
"Boy, am I? That's not what you said last night," Collin retored, grinning cruelly. "I was man enough for you then."
"Shut up!" yelled Ronald, advancing on the younger reaper and grasping him by the shoulders.
Suddenly Collin's eyes went wide and he began to shake.
"No!" he cried, shoving Ronald away, terrified.
Now everyone was watching. Startled, Ronald stared in disbelief as Collin fell to the floor and crab-crawled away backwards, bumping into Grell, who was just as baffled. That's when Ronald noticed the unfocused look to Collin's eyes, as if he was staring right through Ronald.
"Davey!" Collin screamed, ducking behind Grell and wrapping himself around the redhead's legs.
William burst out of his office, an uncharacteristic look of concern on his usally emotionless visage.
"Sutcliff, Knox, bring Burrwood in here quickly," he directed, taking control of the office and looking back towards his office.
"Hurts so much," Collin whimpered, then slumped in a dead faint.
"Err…" Ronald managed, unsure of what to do next.
"Well, don't stand there staring, one of you two pick him up!" William snorted.
"Go on, Ronald," Grell encouraged gently. Clearly he seemed to think that this could be a bonding experience of sorts between the two younger shinigami.
Ronald obediently lifted Collin's limp body in his arms and bore him into the manager's office. Even as dead weight, it seemed as though he weighed practically nothing.
"I was afraid of this," William admitted, unfolding a cot which had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and directing Ronald to lay the longer-haired blond on it.
"What is it?" Ronald asked, worried.
In an absent-minded gesture, he found himself smoothing back Collin's hair away from his face and tucking the loose strands behind his ear. He looked so pitiful and helpless lying there unconscious like that.
"I'm afraid that Mr. Burrwood is more…damaged than I supposed," William sighed.
Author note: I had so much fun writing the "morning after" freakout scene! What's happened to Collin, and what does Will know?